I would definitely stay away from VW, you will literally spend more in repairs than the car was worth when you bought it brand new....VW has one of the worse reliability ratings on the car market today for the past 3 or four years according to consumer reports, aside from that, my father owned a Porsche...aka VW, that car over a period one year, drove him so madd that he went from a Porsche to Toyota Camry...Not joking true story LOL But then again, if you like to waste money, to each to his own, Ford is coming up on quality, definitely worth a look into the ST if you want something as like the GTI, but if someone asked me to buy a VW or sleep with the fattest most horride chick he could find, I'd sleep with chick...